Better D2L Privacy Policy

Effective September 27, 2026. Applies to Better D2L v1.3 and later.

Better D2L is a browser extension for Waterloo's Brightspace website at learn.uwaterloo.ca. It changes the layout of lecture pages to provide a larger PDF viewer, auto-hiding navigation, and a table-of-contents menu.

Better D2L is designed to perform these functions locally in your browser.

At a glance

• Better D2L does not collect personal information.
• Better D2L does not use analytics, telemetry, advertising, or tracking.
• Better D2L does not operate a developer-controlled server.
• Better D2L does not collect grades, assignments, course content, login credentials, or browsing history.
• The extension only runs on learn.uwaterloo.ca.
• The only extension setting stored is whether Better D2L is enabled or disabled.

What Better D2L does

When you open a supported Brightspace lecture page containing an embedded PDF, Better D2L may:

• Expand the embedded PDF viewer to fill more of the page
• Hide the Waterloo LEARN header until you move your cursor near the top of the page
• Reposition existing Download, Print, Previous, and Next controls
• Add a table-of-contents menu using course navigation information already present on the page

These changes are performed locally by modifying the page displayed in your browser.

Better D2L does not send the contents of the page to the developer.

Information processed on Brightspace pages

To provide its features, Better D2L reads parts of the Brightspace page currently open in your browser.

For example, it may read:

• Page layout elements
• The embedded PDF viewer
• Existing navigation controls
• Course topic names and links shown in the page's navigation menu

This information is used only to modify the current page and provide Better D2L's interface.

It is not collected by the developer, transmitted to a developer-controlled server, or used to create a history of your activity.

Storage

Better D2L stores one preference: whether the extension is enabled or disabled.

This preference is stored using Chrome's extension storage system and may use chrome.storage.sync.

When Chrome Sync is available and enabled, Chrome may synchronize this preference between browsers where you are signed into Chrome. Google's handling of synchronized Chrome data is governed by Google's own policies.

Better D2L does not store grades, course content, PDF contents, browsing history, or account information.

Permissions

Storage

The storage permission is used to remember whether Better D2L is enabled or disabled.

No course information, browsing history, grades, or personal information is stored using this permission.

Host access

Better D2L requests access only to:

https://learn.uwaterloo.ca/*

This access is required so the extension can modify supported Brightspace pages.

Better D2L does not request access to unrelated websites.

Information Better D2L does not collect

Better D2L does not collect or maintain:

• Personal information
• Names or email addresses
• Login credentials or passwords
• Grades
• Assignments or submissions
• Course files or PDF contents
• Browsing history
• Location information
• Cookies
• Analytics
• Telemetry
• Advertising identifiers
• User profiles

Better D2L does not sell user data.

Network requests

Better D2L does not operate its own server and does not send information about your Brightspace activity to the developer.

The extension does not intentionally make requests to third-party analytics, advertising, tracking, or telemetry services.

Brightspace and your browser may continue to make their normal network requests while you use the website. Those requests are part of Brightspace or Chrome and are not data collection performed by Better D2L.

Third-party services

Better D2L does not integrate with third-party analytics, advertising, or tracking services.

The extension does not load third-party scripts, fonts, analytics libraries, or advertising resources at runtime.

If Chrome Sync is enabled, Chrome may synchronize the extension's enabled/disabled preference through your Google account as described above.

Data retention

The developer does not operate a database or server that stores Better D2L user activity.

The extension's enabled/disabled preference remains in Chrome's extension storage until it is changed, cleared, or the extension is removed, subject to Chrome's own synchronization and storage behavior.

Removing Better D2L

Removing Better D2L from Chrome removes extension-specific local data according to Chrome's extension storage behavior.

Information previously synchronized through Chrome Sync may remain subject to Google's own data retention practices.

Changes to this policy

If Better D2L's features or data practices change, this privacy policy may also be updated.

The effective date at the top of this page will be changed when the policy is updated.

Contact

Questions about Better D2L or this privacy policy can be sent to:

joshspwu@gmail.com

Disclaimer

Better D2L is an independent and unofficial browser extension. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or developed by D2L Corporation or the University of Waterloo.